Exercise, self-help improve knee arthritis

Exercise and education may give people with knee arthritis a
small but important physical and emotional lift, a research review
suggests.

In an analysis of 16 studies, researchers at San Diego State
University found that both exercise therapy and self-management
programs tended to lessen the overall burden of having knee
osteoarthritis (OA).

Exercise generally improved arthritis patients' physical
functioning, whereas self-management programs - which teach people
how to deal with the daily ups and downs of living with knee OA -
tended to boost their psychological well-being.

The improvements were generally modest, however, and the overall
evidence suggests that many knee arthritis sufferers need a
combination of therapies, the study authors report in the
Journal of Rheumatology.

Still, the findings offer a positive message to people with knee
OA, lead author Dr Loraine Devos-Comby said.

Exercises designed for the knee - which in these studies
included walking, stationary cycling and strength training - can
improve physical health, she said, while self-management programs
cover any of a range of topics to help people deal with knee OA,
from relaxation, imagery and diet changes to proper use of
assistive devices.

"Patients should turn to the programs that are most likely to
improve the areas in which they suffer most from OA," Devos-Comby
said. This may mean trying more than one therapy, according to the
researcher.

Studies generally focus on single interventions for knee OA in
order to test that therapy's specific effects. But in reality,
Devos-Comby noted, people are likely to need multiple
approaches.

Future studies, she said, should test programs that combine
exercise with self-management techniques to improve both physical
and mental well-being.